Pentagon Contractor Was Suspect

Company Accused of Fraud Had Been Flagged by State Dept.

AEY Inc., the company run by a 22-year-old Miami Beach arms dealer who was indicted last week for conspiring to defraud the government on a $298 million Pentagon contract in 2007, was on a State Department watch list for suspicious international dealings the year before that contract was awarded, according to testimony before Congress yesterday.

Both AEY and its president, Efraim E. Diveroli, were listed because they had been under investigation since July 2005 because of suspicion of “numerous violations of the Arms Export Control Act and contract fraud,” according to a report released by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform at yesterday’s hearing.

But Defense Department contracting officials were not aware of the listing because the two agencies did not regularly share such data, according to defense and State Department officials who appeared at the hearing.

Diveroli and four associates were indicted for conspiring to conceal that ammunition they were supplying to Afghanistan under a Pentagon contract had originated in China and not Albania as they were certifying. U.S. law prohibited providing Chinese-made arms and ammunition under the contract.

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I bet this kids folks are so PROUD huh? LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT. This 22 year old was robbing the government JUST LIKE haliburton? DAGNABIT!

GOVERNMENT CONTRACT FRAUD, SO EASY EVEN A 22 YEAR OLD CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!!

The supremely inept court seemed to feel that exxon didn’t deserve a slap on the wrist, so they reduced it to a stern takin’ to! That’ll show em! This from the new york times:

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Justices Cut Damages Award in Exxon Valdez Spill

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday reduced what had once been a $5 billion punitive damages award against ExxonMobil to about $500 million. The ruling essentially concluded a legal saga that started when the Exxon Valdez, a supertanker, dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil into the Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989.

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WTF!? SONOFABUSH! So exxon was levied a judgment of $5 billion which is what those thieving oil corpoRATeers over there make like every ten seconds. The idiots on the high (on crack!) court reduce it to $500 million?

WHERE ARE THE GUN NUTS WHEN YOU NEED EM? When I hear shit like this it absolutely SUCKS that I’m totally nonviolent!

What would a post about corpoRATe ripoffs be without an article about medical ripoffs? This one has a special bonus in that the WORST corpoRATion in the world, walmart, is in on this theft (like so many others)! This from the new york times:

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High Medicare Costs, Courtesy of Congress

On Wal-Mart’s Web site, you can buy a walker for $59.92. It is called the Carex Explorer, and it’s a typical walker: a few feet high, with four metal poles extending to the ground. The Explorer is one of the walkers covered by Medicare.

But Medicare and its beneficiaries aren’t paying $59.92 for the Explorer or any similar walker. In fact, they’re not paying anything close to it. They are paying about $110.

For years, Congress has set the price for walkers and various medical equipment, and it has consistently set them well above the market rate, effectively handing out a few hundred million dollars of corporate welfare every year to the equipment makers.

But as of July 1, this system is set to change. Companies will instead have to submit bids — to compete with one another, just as Wal-Mart competes with Target — if they want to continue selling products to Medicare. Based on a pilot program, the price of walkers, delivery and setup included, will fall to about $80.

Now, would you like to guess how the equipment makers feel about this?

Right.

With the changeover looming, they have increasedtheircontributions to Congress. They have also started publicly claiming that competitive bidding will, among other things, deprive some patients of oxygen equipment they need.

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I don’t know what those screwballs in the house and senate are inhaling, but it ain’t oxygen!

America In Distress!

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